Native Apocalypse in Claire G. Coleman’s The Old Lie

Iva Polak

doi:10.3390/h9030069

Abstract

Claire G. Coleman’s science fiction novel The Old Lie (2019) evokes the blemished chapters of Australia’s history as the basis of a dystopian futuristic Earth. By using the metaphor of a secular apocalypse (Weaver) wrapped in the form of a space opera, she interrogates historical colonialism on a much larger scale to bring to the fore the distinctive Indigenous experience of Australia’s terra nullius and its horrific offshoots: the Stolen Generations, nuclear tests on Aboriginal land and the treatment of Indigenous war veteran, but this time experienced by the people of the futuristic Earth. Following a brief introduction of the concept of the “Native Apocalypse” (Dillon) in the framework of Indigenous futurism, the paper discusses Coleman’s innovative use of space opera embedded in Wilfred Owen’s famous WWI poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. The analysis focuses on four allegedly separate stories in the novel which eventually interweave into a single narrative about “the old lie”. In keeping with the twenty-first-century Indigenous futurism, Coleman’s novel does not provide easy answers. Instead, the end brings the reader to the beginning of the novel in the same state of disillusionment as Owen’s lyrical subject.

Highlights

A relatively new, but by far the most prominent, voice of Indigenous1 Australian futurism is Claire G
The analysis focuses on four allegedly separate stories in the novel which eventually interweave into a single narrative about “the old lie”
A Wirlomi Noongar writer from Western Australia. Her two science fiction novels, Terra Nullius (2017) and The Old Lie (2019), rewrite Australia’s historical terra nullius by stretching its semantic field to the Earth, warning the reader that at some future point the Earthlings may undergo the same predicament as Indigenous peoples

Summary

Introduction

A relatively new, but by far the most prominent, voice of Indigenous Australian futurism is Claire G. A Wirlomi Noongar writer from Western Australia Her two science fiction novels, Terra Nullius (2017) and The Old Lie (2019), rewrite Australia’s historical terra nullius by stretching its semantic field to the Earth, warning the reader that at some future point the Earthlings may undergo the same predicament as Indigenous peoples. While Terra Nullius initially mimics a familiar genre of Indigenous novels mapping Australia’s settler years and exposes its “true” genre half way into the novel when the story receives an unequivocal futuristic projection, The Old Lie reveals itself as an action-packed space opera with epic space battles, an evil empirical force and multispecies fighting for survival. 119) even when they bespeak “things human” in some futuristic timeframe Famous for her innovative twist in Terra Nullius and her love of poetry, Coleman remodels space opera in the same way as Nalo. What remains in the end are the unresolved hauntings of Australia’s and Earth’s future

Native Apocalypse in Indigenous Australian Futurism

The Old Lie as a Poetic Space Opera

The Old Lies of Tomorrow

Expendable Tomorrows?